CAMP KINSER, Okinawa, Japan (April 5, 2004) -- Okinawa weather provides Marines ideal conditions almost year-round to practice or compete in a plethora of outdoor activities. With the abundance of good playing conditions, some Marines may push themselves and their bodies to the limit resulting in injury. For Marines and Sailors playing sports, it would be smart to go to the specialized clinic here for treatment.

The Sports Medicine And Reconditioning Therapy Room, reopened its doors April 5 with a staff of medical professionals ready to tend to sprained, pulled and twisted body parts.

“We conduct an aggressive treatment program for injuries,” said Seaman Luis A. Siu, Lima, Peru native and 22-year-old hospital corpsman with SMART. “The staff really put their hearts into giving each patient the proper attention so they can recover and get them back on full duty.”

We focus on the light or limited duty population and have been able to reduce the light duty days from 21 to an average of 4-5 days per athlete, according to Petty Officer 1st Class Brian E. Wenzel, 28-year-old Boca Raton, Fla. native and leading petty officer for SMART.

“Before, patients would often just receive pills to lessen the pain of their injury, but at SMART we try to rehabilitate them,” said Siu. “We receive support from specialists with the U.S. Naval Hospital at Camp Lester in podiatry, orthopedics and physical therapy who come in to assist with referrals on a regular basis.”

The specialists can see those patients with appointments during their visits to Kinser SMART Room.

“For Marines living on Camp Kinser, our location, next to the post office, allows them to receive care close by and prevents them from having to go up to Camp Lester,” said Wenzel. “The corpsman also show patients the proper equipment to us in their rehabilitation at the Kinser Gym across the street.”